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Queer Theories Graduate Symposium

Molly Beck — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 19:37:07 +0000

Queer Theories Graduate Symposium Molly Beck Thu, 04/02/2026 - 13:37

Queer Theories Graduate Symposium

Friday, April 10th

Center for British & Irish Studies (5th floor Norlin Library, M549)

11:15am - 2:05pm Graduate student Panels

2:15pm - 3:45pm Keynote Speaker, Anthony Petro

Join WGST and Queer & Trans Studies for this year’s Queer Theories Graduate Symposium, where graduate students will present on their original work! Following panel presentations, Keynote Speaker, Anthony Petro will give a talk on Queer Art in the Age of Culture Wars. Please see below for a detailed schedule. Refreshments will be served.

11:15-12:05 Beyond the Present: Queer Futurity across Art, Faith, and Abolition

Silvia Ibsen (Gender & Sexuality Studies)
William Holt III (Art & Art History)
Kevin White (English)
Courtney Pierce (Art & Art History)

12:15-1:05 Unruly Bodies: Gender, Desire, and the Limits of Normativity

Vianney Aguilar (Theatre)
Heidi Judd (Communication)
Oisín Sheerin (Media Research and Practice)

1:15-2:05 Nowhere and Here: Queer Geographies of Belonging, Loss, and Utopia

Sophia Valdez (Spanish)
Alexander Shotin (Russian)
Logan Wintsch (Rural Community Health)
Marissa Sher (Creative Writing)

2:15-3:45pm Keynote Speaker: Anthony Petro

Playing Sacred: Queer Art in the Age of Culture Wars

Why did queer art become so central to U.S. culture wars battles in the 1980s and 1990s? How did conservatives come to understand this work as obscene and sacrilegious? And how were queer artists drawing upon religious iconography–and to what ends? This talk takes us to the heart of culture wars battles over sexuality, religion, art, and interpretation. Drawing on feminist and queer theories of form and play, it rereads this much maligned archive of queer art to suggest the persistence and power of queer commitments both to religious critique and to religious worldmaking.

Anthony Petro is Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame, where he is also an affiliate faculty member in Gender Studies. He teaches courses in U.S. religious history, feminist and queer studies, the long 1980s, and visual culture. He is the author of two books, Provoking Religion: Sex, Art, and the Culture Wars (Oxford University Press, 2025) and After the Wrath of God: AIDS, Sexuality, and American Religion (Oxford University Press, 2015). Petro is currently working on a queer biography of the writer Kathryn Hulme.

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Ericka Huggins and Gayle Dickson (Asali) in Conversation

Molly Beck — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:30:42 +0000

Ericka Huggins and Gayle Dickson (Asali) in Conversation Molly Beck Fri, 02/20/2026 - 10:30

On February 12, 2026, the Department of Women's and Gender Studies co-hosted a conversation with Ericka Huggins and Gayle Dickson (Asali), organized by Kristie Soares, Cheryl Higashida, and Maisam Alomar. The event drew a full room of students, faculty, and community members, including students enrolled in the courses "Beyond Prisons: Reform, Resistance, and Abolition," "Black Feminist and Womanist Theories," and "U.S. Women Writers."

The conversation spanned a rich range of topics, including the vital role of women in the Black Panther Party, the Party's internationalist solidarities and abolitionist commitments, and the enduring power of media and storytelling as tools of resistance and liberation.

The event was co-hosted by the Center for African and African American Studies, the Departments of History, English, Ethnic Studies, and Women's and Gender Studies, and the Center for Humanities & the Arts.

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Professor Samira Mehta Interviewed ��ñ�� PBS Documentary

Molly Beck — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:01:56 +0000

Professor Samira Mehta Interviewed ��ñ�� PBS Documentary Molly Beck Fri, 02/20/2026 - 10:01

Earlier this month, the first episode of PBS's Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History premiered, with the final episode of this 4 part docuseries premiering on 2/16. Professor Samira Mehta, Women & Gender Studies Associate Professor and Director of the Program in Jewish Studies, is featured in the PBS docuseries exploring the history behind black and Jewish Americans. She was also an academic consultant for the series. Watch the series here!

To promote the docuseries and explain how the series explores the intertwined narratives of Black and Jewish communities and the moments that connect them, Mehta was interviewed by 9News Denver. Watch it here!

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Queer Theories Graduate Symposium

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Ericka Huggins and Gayle Dickson (Asali) in Conversation

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Professor Samira Mehta Interviewed ��ñ���� PBS Documentary

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Professor Samira Mehta Interviewed ��ñ�� PBS Documentary